The Fiji Elections: Observations from Nausori

Posted by Meg Munn MP28th September 2014

On 26th September Fiji’s suspension from the Commonwealth was fully lifted following democratic elections on the 17th of that month. Here, UK MP Meg Munn shares her experience of monitoring those elections as part of the Multi-national Observer Group…

I'm a politician who loves election days – the campaigning stops and voters make their choice at the ballot box – but on the 17 September I swapped my rosette for a ‘high-vis’ jacket with ‘Observer’ on the back. My job was not to persuade people who to vote for, but to watch the election process as Fiji went to the polls for the first time since the 2006 coup.

An unelected government had been running the country with the Prime Minister, and architect of the coup, Rear Admiral (Rtd.) Frank Bainimarama, promising a number of times to move to elections. International concern had built up about the length of time the country was without any democratic accountability and Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth.

At last a new constitution was in place which specified a parliament of 50 MPs, elected to represent the whole of Fiji on an open list system. An international group co-led by Australia, Indonesia and India, known as the Multi-national Observer Group (MOG) was the only outside observation allowed. I was selected by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK Branch to lead the UK team.

The MOG included 92 observers from a wide range of countries and international organisations. A full day's training was followed by each team scoping out their route for polling day in their allocated area. Teams consisted of two observers, a local guide and a driver. My partner was Ketut, a political science professor from Indonesia, and with the help of our driver we mapped out a route that included polling stations in the town of Nausori, and in surrounding rural villages.

Polling day meant an early start with teams expected to reach their first polling station before 7am to observe the set up. Just before the polls opened, all the polling workers stood and sang the national anthem. Over the next ten hours we visited around 21 polling stations, checking whether procedures were being followed correctly, identifying problems and noting whether political parties had observers present.

It was a national holiday, so most people voted early so as to have the rest of the day free. Although there were long queues, voters waited patiently and were happy to tell us about their experiences. Extensive voter information and education meant that most voters in urban areas knew what to expect and how to vote. Although a voter information booklet with candidate’s pictures was provided, not including party affiliation made the process confusing for some.

Many polling stations were in schools or halls, sometimes an outside shelter was used with tape in place to designate the route voters should take. When we arrived in a village the head man shouted our arrival, and all the polling stations had a police presence. To minimise the possibility of tampering, votes were counted in each individual polling station. Although no station had more than 500 voters, the large ballot paper and a rigorous process meant that most counts took four hours or more. Finally the results were posted at each polling station.

The electoral systems were rigorous and transparent with the polling staff being conscientious and managing any problems responsibly. But there were times when voters found they were registered at a different polling station to the one they expected. An excellent text messaging system meant they could quickly ascertain where they should be. Many polling stations were not fully accessible and presiding officers had to find ways to ensure all could vote.

The Election Day is only part of the democratic process. The MOG was also tasked with looking at the general environment in which the election took place. The media had been subject to restrictions that limited free reporting and civil society organisations were not allowed to take any part in the process. The final report is likely to detail further issues of concern that should be addressed in future elections.

Despite these problems the view of observers was that the election process itself had allowed Fijians to vote, and that the election would broadly express the will of the people. The MOG will publish its full report in a few weeks, which will reflect more fully on the problems as well as good practice.

The result has now been officially declared and Frank Bainimarama becomes the elected Prime Minister, with his Fiji First party having won around 60% of the vote.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Royal Commonwealth Society.

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About the author - Meg Munn MP

Meg Munn is a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. She was previously a Minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Minister for Women and Equality. She is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union UK and the Parliamentarians Network for Conflict Prevention (PNCP).

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1 comments

Posted on 11/10/2014 9:22am
Elisapeci Samanunu Waqanivala

Thank you Hon. Meg Munn MP for your thoughts and experience on the Fiji 2014 Election. It is great to read that the article is honest and authentic in its approach. As it is well understood and widely read by those of us blogging and monitoring the Fiji situation right up to the election in Fiji, it is a very tilted one. One only has to read reports from International Organisation such as; Human Rights, Amnesty International & International Labour Organisation that the Fiji 2014 Election is flawed. That was to be expected considering that the dictatorship that held Fiji under 'gun-rule' for 08 years had all that time to prepare themselves and excerbated by the same team remaining at the helm and calling the shots right up to election and even after. Was that fair? Of course not. But what can one say. We had wathced the Observer Team moving in and out of the areas they [including your goodself] had chosen and/or agreed to work from. That was interesting. You will have no doubt observed the technical aspect. What was really happening outside that scope and beyond is the interesting one as well as the actual machine brought in from India [we are told] for the actual counting. Whilse your thoughts is well received, we hope that The Commonwealth will monitor as close the finer details of what has been raised as very sensitive and really needs to be critically examined. One of these is the 2013 Bai-Khai Constitution. This needs to be further analysed and 2006 coup perpetrators taken to account for the Human Rights Abuse and Oppression dished out to Fiji Citizens and those with vested interests. Lst but not least, the 'cultural genocide' spearheaded by both Voreqe Bainimarama and Aiyas Saiyed-Khaiyum in the infamous 'sunset clause' where Fijians Indigenous had been stripped of its collective voice and platform via the Great Council of Chiefs and also their identity by the blanket tag of calling everyone Fijian when history books are written with the Indigenous or First Nation people of Fiji in mind when the use of Fijian was penned. This has now created a massive confusion and divided the nation at several levels. I will be happy to have open dialogue with you or anyone that can assist us in making sense of the difficult and challenging situation our people have been thrown in. We remain neutral to any political associations for reasons that we want to maintain an independent voice from a Non Governmental & Civil society perspective of Fiji people at Rural Fiji. These are those that cannot speak for themselves as well as those in urban who are marganilised and have suffered as well during the regime of 2006-2014. We also wish to flag a recent case post election, where a retired school teacher who had been badly beaten up and is currently admitted to hospital for injuries sustained. Another case of Human Rights abuse where the retired school teacher had written a song in Fijian lyrics whilst he was a supporter for Bainimarama FF Party. The Party won the election and used this man's music. There were some conversations about payments and copyrights initiated by the retired school teacher. The outcome, Bainimarama who received some communication from this retired school teacher ordered 04 soldiers and police to raid the man's house and take him to the military camp. This was few days after the election. The rest is history.
We intend to run a post election forum to conduct a post mortem on Fiji 2014 Election as part of the Fiji Day wrap for the month of October, 2014. This forum will be an educational one and we hope to invite a few academics here in Wellington to be in the panel as we had done last year post 2013 Bai-Khai Constitution. The forum is a Luvei Viti (Children of Fiji) 2014 Project. One can email the group via vitiana13613@gmail.com
Thanks & Vinaka,
Elisapeci Samanunu
Founder/Executive Director
Luvei Viti (Children of Fiji) Project